Merry Christmas!

This year, I made a Christmas scene in a wreath - because I am running out of space :)  -- although I did not really get a chance to finish it completely.

It is Santa's office, and he is making his naughty and nice list.

At the moment though, he is taking a nap and doing some deep thinking of perfect gifts.     He has his notebook on the Top Toys of 2015 as well as Santa's Favorite Toys.

  He has received lots of letters from children, sticking out on the shelf.  Eventually, I will fill that shelf with letters.   And there is a book on Employment Law for Elves on the top shelf.  (I think I bought that at Miniatures.com).   I will eventually fill that shelf with more of Santa's notebooks about toys.  There are only a few toys -- because Santa brings up only those toys that he is thinking about giving specific children in response to their letters.

And his cat, Snowflake, really likes to bat at the hanging garland.   It is very tempting hanging there.

He has a carrot for any reindeer who pop by his window.

 Merry Christmas!

Making a Super Easy Hanging Star/Snowflake

Well, it's super easy if you have a star punch.  I bought the Martha Stewart Arctic Snowflake punch.  The snowflake is about 1 1/4 inch long.  And I had glittery white paper from another mini project (of making mini tree topper angels).  

One of the things I liked about Christmas in Copenhagen were all the stars in the windows of people's homes.  (I also liked all the little elves everywhere (called Nissen)).  


Cut 4 stars with your paper punch and glue the pairs together so that the glitter paper is on the outside.  Then make a cut in the star a little bit past the center.

(Lots of toothpicks lying around in the background.  I think toothpicks are my number 1 tool.)


And insert them into each other and then I made a hanging string by sewing a string into it. 

And then I hung it in the window. 

And to quote Dr. Seuss in The Cat in the Hat:  "And that's not all, no, that's not all."

You can also sew the stars together in a garland.  This was a project in The Dolls House Magazine December 2014 issue.  

Hope you enjoy the rest of your week!

Happy Sinterklaas Day! And Paper Source Christmas decorations . . .

We are just starting our Christmas decorating.

For any Americans, the store Paper Source has these little wooden moose and trees on sale. There are 25 in a bag and the green trees are called "Green Tree Table Scatter."   I have no idea what you are  supposed to do with them in real life - it seems a bit odd to throw them around a dining table as tiny decorations.

But the moose stand up on their own as a little dollhouse decoration (as demonstrated above).  And I put some 1-step lightweight spackling compound in a button and stuck the tree in that.  The spackling compound looks like snow to me!

Happy Sinterklaas Day!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Credits:  Moose and Tree from Paper Source; the lights are from Dolls House Emporium; the side table is from PRD Miniatures; the little green and silver purse on the table is from Ginger Landon Siegel: http://www.picturetrail.com/gingerlandonsiegel; and I bought the little box of ornaments at Michael's.

Happy Thanksgiving or Happy Times with Friends and Family and Good Food!

The older couple in Waterside Way is hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for their visiting children and the other families in Waterside Way, so they have been busy cooking.    The neighbors from downstairs also brought up their table so that they would have enough table space.

(As always, it was pretty exciting when my lights worked.)

The chocolate chip cookies are for the kids (and the kids at heart). 

Making potatoes and soup.  There is turkey on the range (yes, it's a bit hard to tell what that is, but I found it in a eBay lot that I bought)

They spend a lot of time traveling, so they have some fun souvenirs, like the diving helmet.   I bought that at the Karen Aird show last year from Diane Paone Miniatures.  (The Karen Aird show this year was last weekend, but I couldn't go because my daughter's best friend was having a birthday party.  I was a bit bummed that I couldn't go (as only fellow miniaturists can understand).)  The little rabbit on top of the refrigerator is a rabbit-shaped carrot cake that I made when I was a kid.   Its ears are made of carrots :)

I bought the bowl of broccoli (as well as the tray preparing soup/stew above) at the Tiny Doll House shop in NYC, and I bought the bowl of carrots on eBay from Sue's Little Things.   She may have also made the chocolate chip cookie set.  

Happy Thanksgiving 

or 

Happy Times with Family/Friends and Good Food!

Malibu Dollhouse - Parents' Bedroom

Making slow, but steady progress on my Malibu dollhouse. Varnished and installed the floor; found the plexiglass windows for the balcony doors (which were not in the box that I thought I should have left it in for safekeeping while painting the doors), and installed lighting.

I am super thrilled with my butterfly lamp from GiginStudio (Gigi n Studio) on Etsy.  I bought it many years ago for this room, and it has sat in its box until now.  In my mind, I started to worry that it was huge and that it wouldn't actually work.  But it did!  And it is just what I wanted.   I love the light it provides.

The shoes are by Patrizia Santi via her website.  The sleeping dog is from Trinkitbelle on eBay and the sleeping cat is by Annie Willis.  The bed is from MultiforMiniatures on Etsy. I love this bed.  I first featured in my New Year's Eve post earlier this year.   The painting is by A.K. Delaney, bought on eBay.

Through the Malibu windows:

Happy Wednesday!

Happy Halloween 2015!

It is time to go to the Halloween party!  The children are going with their moms, who are also in costume, of course! 

(The red-haired witch is by Marina from etsy doll store: www.etsy.com/shop/Marinart).

Their friends have been very busy decorating the outside of Waterside Way!

And the inside of their apartment!

(The paper hanging ghosts are also complimentary projects from Ann Vanture's free newsletter subscription:  Ann-Vanture@PaperMinis.com.)

Even their dog is in costume!

(I bought the black cat pillows from Otterine's etsy shop.)

There is lots of great Halloween-themed food. 

(The little paper candy basket is made from complimentary printouts from Ann Vanture's newsletter and the subscription is free.  The black spider paper tablecloth is a complimentary printout from American Miniaturist. We made the orange cake with a spider web last Halloween from an article in American Miniaturist- see last year's Happy Halloween post.) 

There is a witch telling fortunes in one corner.  

(The background is from another complimentary project from Ann

Vanture's complimentary mini printouts in her newsletter - which hopefully I will do next year).

Some friends are bobbing for apples.

(Another gift in the Holiday themed NAME swap).

And they were hoping to get flying lessons at midnight, but their parents said they can't stay up that late. 

(Lanky witch from Adora Bella Minis; pumpkin on books is from KastleKelm from eBay.  And the table is from ebay seller:barblip. But I made the crystal ball and the little sign, as you undoubtedly guessed). 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Halloween Costumes Required!

I wanted to make the fairy costume that was one of the projects in the recent Dolls' House Magazine, but my daughter said she didn't want her doll to have a fairy costume.  She wanted a puppy costume like hers.  And then my son wanted an astronaut costume like his. And so I have been making 2 mini costumes at night for several days now.

(Of course, I had already bought some materials to make the fairy costume, so maybe next year. . .)

***

The children have been invited to a Halloween party tomorrow night - "Costumes Required!"  - so they are very excited to have these costumes.  

(The sign is from the October American Miniaturist magazine and I received the pumpkin on the door as part of a NAME swap (one of my favorite swaps - the theme was holidays).  

1/144 Brick Wall Roombox

I am working on a miniature dollhouse crafting room (among all my many other projects), so I started searching eBay for 1/144 furniture and dollhouses to add to the room.  I came across a 1/144 roombox that I loved, but  I am trying to stick to my budget and the interior decoration was not quite my style. (Still, I keep going back to its image on eBay and admiring it).

 So I tried to create my own.  I realized that what I liked was the exposed brick interior wall and the windows.

 I have to say it is kind of fun to work in 1/144 scale because I can just use my exacto knife and clay to create furniture!  Hopefully one day, I will have the same comfort with power tools.  And a little bit of green from railroad scenery in a wood box and you've got a plant.

Here is a table made from a part of a wooden coffee stirrer with legs from staples (using staples as legs was an idea from the NAME monthly projects coordinator).  I had to trim the staples.   And there's a little white chair made out of clay propped up against the pink eraser.

 And here is the roombox (although still a work in progress).  I made the windows by cutting out holes in the coffee stirrers.

The interior brick paper and flooring was from the About.com Miniature posts of Lesley Shepherd and the outer brick wallpaper was railroad N scale.

And at least with 1/144, it doesn't take up a lot of room! (These are probably famous last words for many a miniaturist).

Portent Potions

Welcome to our "Portent Potions" class. 

Always a good thing to know before Halloween begins. 

The bookcase, round table and light are from my childhood dollhouse.  My childhood dollhouse had a library with a "secret" door and staircase.  My mom made all those books individually.  Most everything else was purchased on eBay or Etsy (although I made the book he is reading, the "Witch Spell Notes" notebook and the little silver test tub of red bubbles.)  I even bought the roombox on eBay from seller: innovativedh12570.  I was very happy to get the wizard and the dragon.  I had been looking for awhile and I was sure I was going to be outbid.  And I am afraid that after my cat died, I bought a lot of dollhouse animals. In fact, my eBay feed is now filled with 1/12 animals.  

The purple glitter house is from Karen Aird.  The little grey Halloween house is a True2Scale kit that I made.  It was easy and lots of fun. 

Here is the True2Scale Halloween House kit lit up with a blue LED light inside -- still in mid-progress during this photo as I have not yet added the wire trees etc. 

The funny thing is that I saw Pottery Barn selling these kinds of house (in the RL size version) as Halloween decoration for your RL apartment.  But now that I have made it in mini version, I think it would be pretty easy to make in the bigger version for my apartment decoration.  But for now, I will stay with the mini version :)

Sometimes you just need a massage

Dolls are by Paola Ragonesi

I am glad it's the weekend!  Hope you all have a great weekend!

Malibu Dolls House Living Room Revisited

I decided to re-arrange my Malibu Dolls House living room for the moment - especially since I still haven't put in the stairs.

The cat is by Reve.  The arm chair is by InTheTwelfthScale from Etsy.   The colors seem to go well with my dining table chairs (coincidentally).

Dining table, chairs, coffee table and sideboard from PRD Miniatures.

I bought the little cactus plant at the Tom Bishop show in Chicago from Le Miniature di Eurosia.

Couch by Minimodernista.

I am not sure what to do with the lofted space permanently.  I would like another child's bedroom rather than a family/TV room.  But a family/TV room is also a challenge.  I thought it would be fun to try a red theme.  Clearly, the family has just moved in since they have barely any stuff.

Coffee table and couch by Minimodernista.  Bookcase by Dolls House Emporium (I still miss when DHE would come out with their new catalogue in August with modern furniture offerings).   The TV and tiny remote is from eBay.    As I look at it, I think it needs some art work.

Thanks for stopping by!

Camping Scenes

So here is my first tent created during the NAME online Dog Days of Summer weekend.  I spent July evenings making backpacks and then my free August evenings making tents. :)

I bought this fabric inspired by Kikka's Marimekko prints in her dollhouse on her blog.  I am still planning to make a miniature comforter cover with it, but then then this project came along and I thought it would make a fun tent fabric.  

And here are some camping scenes with the swaps.  I am afraid that I was not very good at getting the scene/photographs to look completely realistic.

The forest backdrop was also provided as part of the NAME project, so it was fun to work with that.

I bought some necessary camping supplies while waiting for the NAME swaps, though, such as the golden lantern (I particularly like its shape) and all the stuff for s'mores (from Sue's Little Things on eBay).   Although after I bought them, the Anne Vanture newsletter had similar ones as complimentary printables (www.paperminis.com).  The kebabs on the grill are from miniatures.com.

There is certainly a lot of food for my hungry hiking campers!

The basket of peaches is from Sharon Harbison Miniature Food at the IGMA show in New Jersey.  I made the oranges from another online weekend event class offered by NAME. 

My daughter decided that we needed some people, so here is a dad and his daughter having a picnic after their hike (note the 2 backpacks in the back).  

Hope you have a good weekend!